Relationship of pharmacist interaction with patient knowledge of dispensed drugs and patient satisfaction

A prospective survey of pharmacists' tasks and patients' knowledge and satisfaction was conducted in 35 randomly selected community pharmacies in Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran. The total pharmacist interaction received a mean score of 3.05 out of 5. Providing written directions for use attained the highest score of 0.98 out of 1. Patients scored 3.18 out of 5 for knowledge about their medicines. There was a close correlation between patients' knowledge of dispensed drugs and pharmacist interaction (r = 0.95). Mean total prescription filling time was 7.6 min, but only 1.4 min was spent on pharmacist-patient counselling. The interaction between pharmacist and patient increases patients' knowledge about dispensed medicines and their satisfaction with the pharmacist's activities.